Valve announces The International is bypassing the ocho completely, and coverage
of the Dota 2 tournament will appear on ESPN3 and ESPN2 over the
weekend:

Valve today announced that coverage of The International Dota 2
Championships will be presented in collaboration with ESPN on its live
multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. In addition, an exclusive show previewing
the final match will be presented on ESPN2 on Sunday at 8:30 pm Pacific. Live
access to ESPN2 is also available on digital platforms via WatchESPN.

This year's International, happening at a sold out KeyArena in Seattle, WA this
Friday thru Monday (July 18-22), features a record-breaking prize pool of over
$10 mil - the largest ever for a competitive gaming tournament. And for the
first time, viewers can watch all the matches, interviews, and analysis
happening over the course of the four-day event on ESPN3, accessible online at
WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on
televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360, and
Xbox One.

On Sunday, viewers can tune in to ESPN2 for an exclusive preview of the
tournament's final match, featuring highlights from the games, expert analysis,
plus interviews with the players and Valve's Gabe Newell.

Osc8r wrote on Jul 17, 2014, 18:47:How do people still play LOL, let alone watch it? Dota is superior in most area's, and doesn't have graphics from the atari st era.

Yes the graphics in DOTA2 are better, but LOL is catching up with constant visual updates. The new characters look great and the map is getting a modern rework which is currently on the test servers. As for the rest of the game, really the only major advantage DOTA 2 has over League is that DOTA's client is significantly better, but League is working on that too. As for the gameplay itself, both games are fundamentally different, so it's really matter of preference, and what game most of your friends play.

The aspect of LOL that is much better than DOTA 2 is the professional scene. DOTA2 has the TI which is great, but LOL actually has an full time league, which like a real sport has regular season games and playoffs, not just one off tournaments like DOTA. Additionally, LOL is by far the most popular game in Korea and China (DOTA2 is pretty much nonexistent), and has inherited Korea's esports crown from Brood War. Esport's mainstream popularity in Korea means that as far as production values and player talent is concerned, they are on another level. Basically what this means is that while the TI is going on, I'll watch DOTA, and for the rest of the year I'll watch OGN and League.

Primalchrome wrote on Jul 17, 2014, 18:01:Why would a prize pool have anything to do with ESPN picking it up?

Because they're not interested in existing esport viewers. Those people and the MOBA fans will already be watching. Where this is also mostly on ESPNs online service the 'cut the cord' (cable tv) market is pretty much irrelevant.

What's going to get the attention of the random person visiting the ESPN3 site over the weekend? A blurb about a video game tournament or a blurb about a video game tournament worth $10 000 000+?

What about all the semi-casual / 2-3 franchise only players out there? The ones who only play the newest version of a sports franchise like Madden or MLB, NHL etc. They're still gamers, they still have an interest in gaming to an extent, but likely don't follow or keep aware of what MOBAs are really about. Those sports centric gamers are likely to be quite familiar with ESPN already, so the potential for crossover increases.

Yakubs wrote on Jul 17, 2014, 16:58:Actually it has more to do with the size of the International prize pool. But let's not let that stop us from trying to incite a LoL vs Dota2 fanboy war.

Don't be ridiculous, this is Blues. The very mention of any MOBA is met with nothing but disdain and yelling for kids to get off your lawn...

Why would a prize pool have anything to do with ESPN picking it up? Viewers equate ad revenue.....which is the grail of any organization. Almost every adult gamer in the US knows Steam/Valve/Gabe, so it is perfectly reasonable that a Valve game would make headway into being broadcast on ESPN. At the end of the day it's good news for any game trying to develop a pro scene.....even though Twitch or Azubu probably already has an entrenched position with the younger 'cut the cord' market.